Amy Tan

Luck has had very little to do with the continued success of Amy Tan. She first came to mainstream audiences with The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989 and acclaimed for its honest portrayal of a Chinese-American family. (It's now required reading in high schools across the nation.) She's gone on to publish four other bestselling novels, including The Hundred Secret Senses and The Bonesetter's Daughter. Coming to Houston for the 30th anniversary season of the Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, Tan will be reading from her 2004 memoir The Opposite of Fate. While some critics comment that Tan's work is repetitive - themes of alienation, fractured family dynamics and the struggles of first-generation Americans and their immigrant parents are ever-present - others continue to find inspiration in her stories of struggle and triumph. Attend the reading and ask her about performing next to Stephen King in their literary garage band, The Rock Bottom Remainders. 7:30 p.m. Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For information, visit www.inprinthouston.org. $5. Mon., Sept. 20, 2010